In 2006, Moderna Museet announced its vision of The Second Museum of Our Wishes, in a debate article written by its then director, Lars Nittve.In the article, he pleaded with the government for a one-off grant of SEK 50 million to address the gender imbalance in the Museum’s collection.The entire sum was to be earmarked for buying works by women artists from the first half of the 20th century.This would entail a real opportunity to achieve a more correct historic representation of women artists.

In consequence, Moderna Museet’s collection has been enriched with a total of 26 works by 14 artists. In addition, the Hilma af Klint Foundation has agreed to deposit its collection with the Museum.The campaign for The Second Museum of Our Wishes yielded a fantastic result – but that does not by any means imply that the efforts to create a collection that conveys a more gender-neutral perspective on 20th and 21st century art history has been completed.

Car Hood plays on the male-dominated surfer culture in 1960s Los Angeles.Judy Chicago was one of few women on the established LA art scene.The paintwork features symmetrical patterns that were typical of the time.It also includes enigmatic symbols, such as the Celtic cross.Chicago describes the motif as a vaginal shape impaled by a phallic arrow on a masculine car hood:“A clear symbol of my state of mind at the time.”Meanwhile, she changed her name to Chicago,as a political statement.In agreement with activists such as Malcolm X and the Black Muslims, she claimed that family names contributed to enhancing an inherited, enslaved identity.

+ - Signature, inscriptions, and markings

Etikett fastsatt i plexiboxen som hör till verket:
When I first started my professional life , in 1963, I went to auto-body school, because I wanted to learn to spray paint, and because it seemed another way to prove my "seriousness" to the male art world. While I was there, I put my very sexually feminine images on this car hood, which in itself is quite a symbol.
Judy Chicago